I will gently say, as a person with a fair amount of political organizing experience, that yelling at people in positions of power and authority is actually the opposite of learned helplessness - ThreadSky

gwensnyder.bsky.social • 1 day ago

I will gently say, as a person with a fair amount of political organizing experience, that yelling at people in positions of power and authority is actually the opposite of learned helplessness

Reposted from Mike Masnick

Earlier this year I wrote about the problem of "learned helplessness" online, where people think the only thing they can do if they don't like how something works is to yell at companies/gov't to "fix things." Some of the responses I'm getting to the post below...

www.techdirt.com/2025/01/27/e...

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fivetonsflax.tilde.zone.ap.brid.gy•1 day ago

@gwensnyder.bsky.social @nberlat.bsky.social Mike gets a lot of things wrong, I’ve noticed.

maskfairy.bsky.social•1 day ago

Not everyone is ready to be in a position of power where people ask things of them. Loudly and angrily.

largesseadultson.bsky.social•1 day ago

The caveats are probably implied (in both posts) but in my very limited political organizing experience I have seen people yell at the wrong peoplle in power, not understanding that person or their governing body’s authority (or lack of) or how they work, etc, and often yelling before trying talking

ebthen.bsky.social•1 day ago

On the other hand, people who have been fighting the same fights against the same oppressive patterns repeatedly for years and even decades get pretty used to talking not working and calls for civility being used to silence us and our understandable frustration.

ebthen.bsky.social•1 day ago

Because it doesn't really matter that it's a different entity using their power in the same way to do the same things as some other entity that didn't want to hear.

At some point you get fed up with repeatedly being told you have to ask nicely to have your basic needs considered.

largesseadultson.bsky.social•1 day ago

Smart organizing, including sometimes being very loud, can be very effective. I opposite end of the spectrum for me is like the people who reply “FUCK YOU” to every NYT social post. They’re not listening, they don’t care, you’re throwing your energy into the void.

gwensnyder.bsky.social•1 day ago

I don't really disagree with Mike's central thesis of "hey there's a lot of cool stuff you could DIY, that's part of the fun."

And atomized individual yelling is not useful.

However

gwensnyder.bsky.social•1 day ago

Please never for a second forget that organizing together to yell in chorus at decision-makers is a great way to get what you want, especially if you have a decent power analysis and strategy for ongoing escalation

nottowantthings.bsky.social•1 day ago

Beautiful. Love this.

profmattdecarlo.bsky.social•1 day ago

You are actually quite civil

mmasnick.bsky.social•1 day ago

As a professional yeller, I don't disagree. My point is that people think their *only* options are to yell. And that's what I'm trying to get people to realize: there are more options here. And that's important.

gwensnyder.bsky.social•1 day ago

Well, and I'm familiar with the dynamic where someone who is not willing to put in work comes up to you and tells you how YOU ought to do the work you're doing differently.

But that to me is less about learned helplessness and more about entitlement.

mmasnick.bsky.social•1 day ago

Possibly. The thing that got me talking about this, though, was talking to a few people who just seemed so *used to* thinking that services were obviously trying to screw them over, that they wouldn't even consider that they had some direct agency and power.

gwensnyder.bsky.social•1 day ago

Yeah, that makes sense. It certainly tracks with the crowd that for a long time was determined to believe that Jack Dorsey personally owned and controlled this platform and made all its decisions

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